Hok’taur
by Reichenbach
Summary: Stargate xover. The Doctor becomes the victim of Nirrti's latest attempt to create the ultimate host. Destruction of reality to commence at 0800. 9th DoctorRoseish & SamJackish. If you squint.
1. Chapter 1

Standard disclaimers apply. Thanks to Krypto for the beta.

Spoilers: bare minimum for both series—"Rose" from series 1 and season 5-ish of SG1.

XYZ

Hok'taur

Chapter 1

XYZ

Jack O'Neill took a few steps backward away from the brush when he heard Daniel Jackson calling his name in the distance.

It was an excited "Jack! Jack!" not a 'we're under attack' sort of hollering of his name, which was a nice change of pace. Either Daniel had actually gotten something useful to why they were here, or he'd found something that was only interesting to Daniel. After years of having the little mouth-breather on the team, he figured he had better odds of it being the second one.

Either was fine. He was in need of someone to bounce his own little discovery off of. Because this one was… out there. And he said this as someone who traveled through wormholes and fought evil parasitic aliens for a living.

Daniel slid down the hillside in his haste, almost knocking over an unsuspecting baby pine he'd had his eye on all afternoon. "Hey, watch the shrub! That's my Christmas tree in a couple of years!" And of course, the archeologist just looked at him like he was nuts. "No, really. I have the mission proposal already worked out!"

Catching his breath, Daniel shook his head. "Right. 'Sir, I'd like to go back to the potentially hostile planet and collect a Christmas tree.' Hammond'll go for that."

Jack grinned, pleased with himself. "Spoils of war."

Hammond would chuckle, hand the folder back to him and order him to shred it before the oversight committee thought he was serious. 'But I am serious, sir,' he'd say, batting his eyes.

Arm slung over his weapon, Jack tried not to laugh out loud. His overactive imagination was about the only thing that got him through some of these more tedious trips. "Whada ya got for me, Daniel?" Might as well just get to what had the little nerd's underpants all in a wad.

Frowning, the archeologist looked around, some of the urgency running out of him. "Where's Sam and Teal'c?"

Jack shrugged casually. "Not here." Why was Daniel still looking around? He'd said they weren't here. "Ok, fine, they're off looking for those weird energy readings she found when we first got here. She started doing the techno babble thing and I got bored, so I decided to… check out the plant life,"

Removing his glasses, Daniel began wiping the dust from them with a handkerchief. "Uh, yeah. Right." Why did that sound completely Jack-like, and yet un-Jack-like all in the same breath? "Anyway, YES, Nirrti has a presence here. I can't say if she's here herself, the locals have only seen her Jaffa. But her ship is around here somewhere; a kid wandered too far in the forest and found a 'giant golden temple' last week. Of course he can't actually TAKE us there, because he only found his way back to the village by chance and doesn't remember how he got there or back."

And….Jack wasn't listening. He was looking over his shoulder, back. "Yeah…that's great…" his voice trailed off in distraction. It wasn't the normal Jack 'ok, I'm bored, lets move on to the next thing' sort of distraction either.

Putting his glasses back on, Daniel frowned. "What's up?"

Thoughtfully, Jack glanced at Daniel, and then walked back towards the bushes. "Oh, I found a little something," he said with excessive casualness. "We might have bigger problems than Nirrti. I'm thinking Ball, maybe. Which'd REALLY ruin my day."

Fiddling with the arm of his glasses, Daniel winced. "Ba'al."

Jack rolled his eyes. Daniel was such an anal retent sometimes. "That's what I said. Ball."

There was a smirk on the younger man's face; the linguist in him was enjoying this. "Ba'al. There are two distinct yet juxtaposed 'ah' sounds in his name."

Just to show how unamused he was, Jack hoisted his locked weapon as he made a face at the archeologist.

Holding up his hands in defeat, Dr Jackson took a few steps back. "Ok, ok. Ball it is then."

Jack lowered the gun. "Thank you." He winked. "I wouldn'ta shot ya anyway. You're not worth the paperwork."

But, back to the problem at hand…As if Nirrti wasn't a big enough pain already. The only question was, were they working together in some common cause, or were they working against each other? Sometimes you needed a chart to keep the Goa'uld affiliations straight. It was on the base intranet, now. They were printing one out several times a day for a while there.

Following, Daniel Jackson frowned, thinking over something the children had told him. "I don't know. Maybe. There was some guy. Apparently when he came into town, the children were the only ones he'd talk to. He asked them how they were feeling, checked them over with some 'magic wand' device, and then got serious. He said everything was going to be just fine, and then he picked a fight with a Jaffa."

Stopping just beyond the edge of the brush, Jack turned back to Daniel and gave a fake shiver. "Ooh, intrigue for breakfast."

Daniel looked past his friend to the thick vines tangled in the bushes. Looked like a fine bit of natural camouflage if he did say so himself. "So what do you have?"

Jack grinned, digging an arm through the tangled vines and branches. "Daniel, my friend. I present to you…" he yanked as hard as he could, pulling the vines away from his discovery. "A HUGE conundrum."

Taking a few steps back to really look at the thing, Daniel whistled. Yeah, conundrum was a word not normally in Jack's vocabulary, but he'd let him have the whole conundrum thing. Because really—he couldn't think up a decent reason for a large blue police box to be in a forest on P3X-973. "Haven't seen one of these since I was a kid, traveling with my grandfather."

With a nonchalant shrug, Jack sort of let Daniel mull over this new bit of intrigue. "So, I'm thinking we round up the rest of the gang, report back to Hammond our latest bit of weirdness, then see if we can find Nirrti's ship. Ten bucks says that we find our ruckus-raising friend, an answer for what Nirrti's doing to these people, AND an explanation for the funny box with the phone that isn't hooked up to anything." In demonstration, Jack opened the small door, revealing a really old-fashioned telephone.

XYZ

Dried leaves crushed under the Doctor's boots and were subsequently obliterated and turned to dust beneath the armored heels of the guards flanking his rear. The sound was cyclic and hypnotic. "Ever notice the intense…sameness of all these planets? The people and the architecture are always different. But 'nature' always looks so…universal. And there are always the places that defy convention—purple trees, yellow sky, red dirt—that sort of thing. But for the most part, it's dead leaves, tall trees and ferns. Why are ferns a universal constant?"

The business end of a weapon slammed into his back. "Keep moving, you."

Frowning, the Doctor resumed his pace. Hands bound in front of him (they were THAT confident in their ability to contain him—the idiots), his unbuttoned leather jacket swung a bit as he awkwardly maneuvered the terrain to keep up with his entourage of guards and jailers.

Getting captured had been part of the plan, and all that, but really. He HATED these blokes. Jaffa were, quite possibly, the most annoying subservient race in the universe. And he'd met a lot of subservient races.

He'd even met those (idiots that they were) that worshiped the Daleks. That type of dedication had never been rewarded with anything other than 'extermination,' but there were fools everywhere who'd worship at the altar of whatever greater power was choosing to enslave them.

The thing that made the Jaffa so annoying was that they weren't meek little 'throw themselves under the train' type subs. Oh no, these were the 'fight and die in battle for you, oh glorious leader' type subs. He'd tell 'em so, but he was trying to not get shot before reaching his destination.

The Doctor looked at the two guards marching ahead of the party. Their long, spear-like weapons were held at the ready, prepared to blast him or beat him into submission, should he get out of line at any point. Their armor clicked and squealed as they moved.

The mechanical repetition sent his mind back into itself, back past his thoughts of ferns and universal constants, past his most recent visits to 1960's Dallas and the Kennedy assassination and his saving of a perfectly nice family from a watery demise on the Titanic.

All of those adventures had been distractions, designed to draw his mind from the thing that bothered him. In part, this thing bothered him BECAUSE it bothered him (he knew very well about paradoxes, and this strange fact certainly fell into the realm of paradox, but did not make it any less true, none-the-less).

Clomping down a small hill, he sighed. "I mean—really. Why in the hell should I care if one stupid human said no, I don't want to see the universe. First, she's a stupid ape. Second—she's a stupid ape. Those're two perfectly good reasons to put the whole thing out of my mind. If she wants to continue on with her stupid ape life, she's welcome to it."

Something heavy and metal rammed him between the shoulder blades. They were not amused. Good. Neither was he. "She can find herself a new job folding clothes endlessly until her impossibly tiny and stupid ape life ends in old age, or better yet, something random like walking out in front of a double-decker and getting turned to blood, guts and jelly on some London street corner."

Turning around, he looked at the tanned, hardened face of the nearest Jaffa. "I mean, what IS it with humans? She's going to spend the rest of her life eating beans on toast and shagging that immature, whining, frightened-by-life boyfriend of hers. Whom I should have killed when I had the chance, am I right? But she has free will—she can do what she bloody damned well pleases. Free will is the worst. I'm sure you lot know all about that. Better off without, I say."

He'd told himself he was better off going at it alone after the Time Wars. Since then, he hadn't been…particularly suited to company. Then he'd gone back on his own promise to himself, and invited a HUMAN onto his ship.

The Doctor ground his teeth for a moment, pondering his own stupidity. "I don't need Rose Tyler. I'm just fine on my own, see?" In a semi-comical gesture, he raised his shackled hands. "I hope that she and her idiot boyfriend are happy together. I hope--"

"Wait here."

They'd stopped, just outside the small entrance on the side of the temple/ship thing. Single door, entirely non-descript and unceremonial (which was not typical, knowing who he was dealing with)… "Servants entrance?" he asked pleasantly. He still knew how to do it, even though it always felt awkward. But it annoyed the Jaffa—serious, dower creatures that they were—and so it was worth the emotional energy that it took to grin wickedly.

So far so good. This all meant he'd be shown to a cell, which made his job all the easier—the prison in this design of ship was seven levels below the reactor coil. After effecting an escape, he'd have the place blown to bits with very little effort involved, and he'd be back on board the TARDIS in time for tea.

The two lead guards went inside, probably to inform their command of who and what they'd found snooping around the village. Well, it wasn't exactly snooping—it was rather loud, annoying and blatant questioning. This had, after all, been part of the plan. He was overdue for another, shall we say, focusing session with a certain deranged Goa'uld.

Boy, wouldn't Nirrti be surprised to see him again! Well, not really again. This would sort of be for the first time, considering this was an entirely different body this time. At least he'd come by it legitimately, though. If Nirrti had a new body, it was because she'd stolen it. Still—the business was overdue. He'd been meaning to make sure she wasn't doing any more experiments on humans, but the Time Wars had gotten in the way. No time like the present, he thought bitterly.

They were stupid, and they were humans, but they weren't cattle, the way the Goa'uld treated them. The Asgard had a treaty with the Goa'uld that the Time Lords seemed inclined to observe, so outright interference had never been permitted. However, the Doctor never really bought into some of the stupider rules of his people (he had the whole 'banishment' badge of honor to prove it, too).

Granted, his people had their own problems with the Daleks, so it wasn't like they had huge chunks of time on their hands strictly earmarked for ruining the Goa'uld's day. Which is why the Doctor did his best to muck up their plans whenever he had a free minute or two. With his people AND the Daleks gone, he was not bound by any convention or understanding between Time Lords and another first race. Of course, it also meant he tended to have less time than he may have otherwise dedicated to the problem of the parasitic Goa'uld. Which was why he had to make this explosion particularly fantastic.

XYZ

As they walked back to the Stargate, Carter explained to her CO what she'd found, tracking the energy signatures from the largest hill in the area. Jack filled in with the bits about the box and the kids from the village. "That'd seem to be consistent with my findings, sir. I had the large signature, no trail, probably emanating from about where you were with the box. Then there's the smaller signature. Maybe a weapon, maybe some other kind of device. We can probably use it as a breadcrumb trail to Nirrti's ship, since that's where they were most likely taking our mysterious visitor."

Spinning around, Jack walked backward so he could talk to Teal'c. "Ever encountered anything like this before?"

The Jaffa was wearing his permanent poker face. "I have not, O'Neill." The former First Prime of Apophis didn't elaborate further or offer any sort of speculation. Good old Teal'c. Short, sweet, and to the point.

O'Neill gestured to the gate. "Dial it up, Daniel. Lets see what sort of info Hammond can drag out of the movers and shakers for us." There had to be some interested international party on Earth that had an explanation for this. It probably was too much to ask that it just be Ball, huh?

It was a little weird, and left Jack completely on-edge. Those creepy Brits at Torchwood constantly bugged them about analyzing the alien tech they brought back—he couldn't imagine that they'd be annoying American agencies if they had their own 'space exploration' program.

But—really—what was the deal with the police box?

XYZ

Nirrti wasn't on the planet, which was a shame. The Doctor would have enjoyed seeing the look on the she-devil's face when he destroyed her ship and her research. There was nothing wrong with taking pleasure in the right people's pain.

In the warm, sticky air of the reactor room, the Doctor passed a hand over his forehead. He was highly tolerant to most weather, but it was so oppressive that he almost took his jacket off. The amount of heat being transferred from the currents running through the cabling connected to the generator was massive that it made the air feel as if it were boiling.

Twisting the exposed copper end of a wire around a makeshift detonation device, the Doctor gave a determined grin. He liked the explosions of late and this one promised to be magnificent. Naquadah was one of those things—incredibly resistant to a point… then it was like pure sodium hitting water—fawoosh (complete with pretty pink lights). His little packet contained just enough C4 to start the microscopic shards of naquadah also embedded in the paper wrapper, which would be more than enough to set off the reactor with fantastic 'light-up-the-night' results.

Stupid humans. Why would she follow him all around London? Why would she climb down that hole with him, knock the anti-plastic into the pit with the Nesteen Consciousness and save him…Why would she do all that, then stay with that idiot? The sex must have been fantastic. Of course, he doubted that—her idiot boyfriend looked like he was devoid of anything resembling an imagination.

It had been nearly two months by the human reckoning of time, and he was still dwelling on it.

Rose Tyler.

The girl could make a man forget what he was thinking about—forget what he was doing. He almost forgot to set the timer when he was done connecting everything.

She was a girl—and a young one at that—and entirely too young for him to invest so much thought process in. But she still had the power to make him lose his place, forget his train of thought…lose track of where and when he was…

The latter part being the most important, the Doctor realized, as the vertiginous wave passed over him and pain spread from the back of his head to the rest of him. Rose Tyler made him forget about his surroundings; forget about keeping his senses on alert for evil banshee devil-women with personal cloaking devices.

The last thought before unconsciousness overtook him: all women were trouble and not to be trusted, regardless of species.

TBC…

A/N: The Torchwood reference is not out of place. I have a plan ; ) Uh… I guess that's all from the peanut gallery for now. Chapter two should be out in a bit…


	2. Chapter 2

Standard disclaimers. Thanks to Krypto for betaing some of it. Unthanks to Krypto for refusing to beta the rest. So all the errors are mine, no one to blame 'em on this time.

XYZ

Hok'Taur

Chapter Two

XYZ

After dragging the last of the totally insane number of guards away from the small back entrance of the pyramidal ship with Teal'c, Jack took one final look around to be sure they hadn't been spotted. "Plan," he huffed, turning to Carter, who was busily working on deactivating the door codes. "You and Teal'c find the source of the energy signature, if you find this 'Doctor,' report in. Do not engage. If this guy is as bad as those spooks at Torchwood told Hammond, we need to figure out what he's doing here with Nirrti." He watched Carter struggle with the crystals and wires for a moment. "What're ya doing?"

Lips pressed together in frustrated concentration, she shook her head. "I don't know, sir. It's already been tampered with. To keep people out, it looks like."

Well, that'd explain the excessive number of Jaffa at the back door—everybody was locked out of the house.

Daniel looked over her shoulder, his arms crossed. He shifted a bit, agitation leaking off of him like background radiation—he didn't like this any more than Jack did. "Why would they do that?"

"Perhaps it was this Doctor," Teal'c offered as he continued to keep watch for more Jaffa returning from patrols.

Jack winced, shaking his head. "Alright. So he wanted to talk to Nirrti in private? I mean—how many Jaffa were outside the ship?"

Rocking on his heels, Daniel also contemplated the matter. "Or you're locking everybody else in."

With a small grunt of displeasure, O'Neill nudged Major Carter out of the way. "Sure, like this thing isn't fully equipped with escape shuttles and rings and nine hundred thousand other ways of evacuation and escape."

Before his second in command could protest at being taken off the job of disabling the security and opening the door for a quiet entrance, Jack opened up with a short burst of semi-automatic fire. Sparks flew and blue tendrils of electricity shot around the metal enclave housing the door and security panel.

Daniel was wincing in that special 'I can't believe you just did that' kind of way, but after a second, the door slid open.

Jack shrugged. It'd worked, hadn't it? And it wasn't like another patrol wasn't coming back any minute. Why delay the inevitable?

Beyond the tree line there was the sudden rush of footfall and the exclamations of Jaffa warriors. Carter rushed to close the door behind them once the team was inside. "Well, there goes the element of surprise," she groused as the metal barrier resealed itself.

Jack and Teal'c each took a side of the hall and made sure the immediate area was clear. It didn't appear that there were any more Jaffa inside who'd heard the gunfire. "The majority of the guards were outside. Nirrti knows that HE is here, she probably knows we're here too, and I'm betting she thinks we're with this guy."

He gestured for Daniel to come with him as Carter joined Teal'c. "Right. You guys, find out what's goin' on with Torchwood's Most Wanted. Daniel's with me, we're going to find out what Nirrti's up to and ruin her day." And that was his totally awesome plan. Simple, yet elegant. Daniel looked like he was going to protest, he probably wanted to make first contact with their little hostile alien friend—it was the tree-hugging bleeding-heart deep inside the archeologist that'd get him killed one day. "Oh yeah, and nobody gets caught this time." Like that'd work. But Jack had to try.

XYZ

The austere and sterile smell was what woke the Doctor. It hung in the air, something fulsome and unnatural to his senses, stabbing his sinus cavity with its…wrongness. Not wanting to give the game away, the Doctor kept his eyes closed until he had more information. Shifting imperceptibly, he assessed the situation.

Arms restrained; not typical cuffs by any means, his wrists and forearms were held directly to a cold metal slab. His legs were similarly confined. They knew what sort of trouble he could be, it seemed.

He felt something brushing his fingertips, possibly drains. The words 'autopsy table' rang in his skull for a moment before he let out a sigh of frustration. This was his own fault—he should have been paying attention to his surroundings, not dwelling on what wasn't and what hadn't been.

He'd say he was better off—traveling with a stupid human would only get him killed—but it seemed like he was doing a bang-up job of it himself. Sure he'd traveled with other humans, spent time with U.N.I.T. on Earth. But those were different times. Before the Time Wars. Before one little ape possessed the ability to stir a negligible—nay—suicidal level of monomania in him. Once again, the Doctor told himself he was better off alone.

The good news was, he could not sense anyone else in the room. It meant that, while being largely difficult, escape was possible.

His jacket was no longer on his person, which meant no sonic screwdriver. Useful tool, but he was becoming too reliant on it again. He knew what happened when you became too reliant on anything or anyone. One arm sore—at the elbow—it also seemed that he was a pint or two low. Great. And while he was getting himself killed, he'd just handed Time Lord genetic material to a megalomaniac madwoman. Perhaps he'd like to offer to be her next host, while she was at it, too.

Opening his eyes, he looked around the shining metallic lab. Yup. Dissection was the order of the day. He was probably only being kept alive until Nirrti discovered a way to deal with his blood and extract actual useful materials. It was imperative that he get that blood back.

With a final look around for an easier means of escape, the Doctor steeled himself. This was never, ever fun.

Relaxing his left arm, he let out every last bit of breath. Right hand instinctively digging for something to hold on to, he found nothing.

Drawing in a sharp, fast breath, he twisted his left hand anti-clockwise, yanking up as hard as he could, past the first restraint. Gasping, he tried to regain his composure before trying it again, but the mere act of breathing caused a tremendous amount of pain in his now out-of-place thumb, so he decided to just go for it.

Forearm being considerably wider than a wrist, this last bit only involved jarring the self-inflicted injury and not actually re-agitating it. With a groan, the Doctor put his thumb in his mouth, clamping down with his molars and yanked as hard as he could, feeling things almost slide back where they belonged.

He could worry about fixing it properly later, right now he just needed an opposable thumb so that he could get himself the hell out of here—the metal restraints had annoyingly complex clasps to deal with so being a one-handed gimp was not an option. Especially since he was probably in a load of trouble—so far this had been too easy.

Turning his attention to the other restraints, he tried to free himself as quickly and as quietly as possible. As soon as all remaining appendages were released, he swung his legs over the edge of the table and he began scanning the room for his things.

Seeing the jacket on the other side of the room, half forgotten on a chair, he slid off the table, boots clomping on the stone floor a little louder than he'd have preferred.

He didn't have time to wince, however. The moment he took a step forward, a force field slammed him back into the table, causing a metallic yaw that made his aching skull ring. This was, of course, until the table hit the other side of the field, sending energy jolting through him. Letting out a yelp, he managed to jump away from the table, in the very narrow two foot path between the field and the metal table.

XYZ

Jack had been right; they'd met very little resistance inside the ship. They'd found the level with the various laboratories fairly easily too. The first laboratory had several long-term genetic projections running on a large machine that did not look to be of Goa'uld design.

Poking around with some jars of various liquids, Jack waited while Daniel translated the notes Nirrti had left, and the output of the large cylindrical device running the genetic calculations. "Can ya hurry it up a little?"

Daniel just scowled at him, glaring at the jar of gelatinous bright green that Jack was about to unscrew. "Do you want to know what she's doing? It's going to take time."

Twisting the lid, the substance gave a blurb and a bubble popped before Jack even unscrewed it further. Hastily resealing it, he shoved it back on a shelf. "I haveta tell ya. I don't trust the United Nations as far as I can throw them. But the Torchwood spooks just give me the willies."

Flipping the page of his notebook, Daniel pushed up his glasses, and then went back to scribbling furiously. "That's not saying much. Mayfield gives you the willies."

Jack stretched out his hand, in that 'what more could you possibly need' kind of way. "And Mayfield's a spook. And Torchwood only communicates through the NID." His had bobbed back and forth, as if he were still trying to decide on the issue. "I mean, what the hell kind of a name is U.N.I.T? That's SO unimaginative. Cassie's dog could come up with something better than that. And they won't tell us anything, other than to not interfere, and Torchwood wants him brought in alive. Which that DOESN'T scream 'Roswell alien autopsy video' to me at ALL. Meanwhile, we've never heard of the guy." He poked the jar with the green contents and it burped again. "And what's with the blue box? Retro-mod sarcophagus? What does he do? Lug it around on a little red Radio Flyer wagon everywhere he goes?"

Daniel opened his mouth to tell Jack he needed to concentrate on copying down the findings, if they were going to undo what she was doing to the local population, but never got the chance. Somewhere near-by there was the scraping of metal against stone, sparking sounds and a series of expletives even Daniel couldn't translate.

Stuffing the notebook into his jacket, he followed Jack in a dead-run for the noisy lab.

Unwilling to waste time Daniel mess with the security protocols on the door outside the lab, Jack used his own special skeleton key. The noise echoed off of the golden walls and polished stone floors and Daniel thought for certain that this was the time Jack ruptured his ear drums. "The hell!" he managed to get out as the door slid opened.

Both of them took two steps in the lab and stopped, staring at the charged yellow containment field and the tall man with the…unique profile standing uncomfortably with his arms folded, glaring at them as if they'd written on the bathroom walls at school. "Well, Jack…" Daniel started, gesturing to the prisoner. "Now's your chance to ask."

For a guy in no position to argue, the man in the field looked terribly irritated. "Great. I should have known. Americans in space, and your first act is to come barging in where you're not welcome, and to do so as LOUDLY as possible. Now I don't suppose you could be so kind as to shut this thing off," he pointed up at the small generator atop the light fixture, "before the nice Jaffa soldiers come back and start shooting. Or worse, Her Royal Bitchiness."

Disbelief quickly turned to annoyance as Jack turned to his friend. Do you trust the British spooks, or the UN spooks? That was like trying to pick the lesser of two evils in the voting booth. "I'm willing to cut this down the middle. How's about we go with cautious optimism on this one?"

Daniel glanced at the team leader, also making no sign of moving to assist. "That's just another way of saying peace through superior fire power." The younger man shrugged. "Which could work. He's unarmed. We've got a lot of bullets…"

Jack slapped him on the back. "I was actually thinking 'trust but verify,' but you're catching on, my friend." It was the bandanna. Daniel always thought he was Rambo when he was wearing the green bandanna.

The man behind the fizzing yellow field tugged on the sleeve of his black v-neck sweater, looking at his watch. "At any point in time now, people."

Turning his attention back to the prisoner, Jack gestured for him to take it easy. "We're working on it. We're working on it." Really, they weren't. But Jack wanted to push this guy a little. Feel him out, as it were. You could never tell when it was some elaborate trap, a double-cross, a triple-cross… "And I'll have you know…first of all, we're not the ones locked up in the itty bitty cell. And second of all…sticking our noses where they don't belong is who we are. It's what we do. Though I guess we are kind of nebby. At least, I think Ra thought so. When that nuclear bomb went off in his face. Talk about a missed Kodak moment."

Just as the man was about to open his mouth to complain, Jack aimed at the light fixture and squeezed.

Daniel didn't get his hands to his ears in time—they were stinging and ringing before the firing stopped. "THANKS, JACK." What was it with O'Neill today? Jack tended to be a shoot now, ask questions later kind of guy, but he was especially quick with the trigger today.

The man still stood with his lanky arms folded over his black shirt, looking at the in-tact generator. "Yes. Thanks, Jack. Good job. Bloody ape." He pointed across the room. "Left breast pocket of the jacket. Right tool for the job."

Seeing that his friend had no intention of moving, Daniel casually walked over to the coat. "Yeah, bad ape, Jack. Very bad ape. So what's your relation to Nirrti?" he asked casually, playing Jack's game. The older man was right—they really had no reason to trust either report.

The Doctor's lips pressed together, not at all pleased with being questioned. "She's got something of mine that I'd like to get back."

It was smaller and more elegant than a mini Mag-light, but roughly the same size and shape. Sam would love to get her hands on this…whatever it was. Nothing at all like the Goa'uld devices they'd encountered so far. This actually more resembled the device (design wise) in the other lab. "So… what's she have?"

This Doctor character glared at both of them like they were completely incompetent and beneath them. Yet another alien that saw humans as being on the bottom of the totem pole, Jack noted. It seemed very Goa'uld-ish.

Jack noticed the Doctor's attention focused solely on him, seeming to read his thoughts. "I'm not a Goa'uld. Can we get on with it now? You, Rambo. Bottom knob a full turn to the left, top knob seven turned to the right press the button on the end to prime it and the red button turns it on. Aim it at the generator and let it rip."

Hearing footfall, Jack nodded for Daniel to just do it. They didn't have time for the 'is he evil?' game any more. "If ya double-cross us," he explained innocently. "We shoot ya."

The device made a high pitched buzzing sound, but the field clicked off. The Doctor immediately grabbed the jacket and the device off of Daniel "Fair enough."

Sliding into the jacket, he rushed to the door, twisting things on the small device. He looked entirely different with the coat—the man wore it like a suit of armor. Pressing a button, the doors slid shut just before the firing from the Jaffa began. "Right. That'll hold for all of… two minutes. Congratulations on alerting the remaining patrols to our location, JACK." He muttered something under his breath about stupid humans again.

As something that wasn't weapon fire slammed into the door, Jack frowned. The colonel didn't like this Doctor, but suddenly understood this guy—saw something of himself in the whole anti-social routine. "There's this little thing. It's called backup." He picked up the radio. "Carter? Teal'c? We need a little a little help down here."

The door rumbled again with the sound of something slamming into it. Jack looked at the Doctor. "Never leave home without it. Someone on your six…" There was an awful long pause which ended with another echoing rumble as the door was assaulted. "Teal'c? Carter?" the smug smile turned into something a bit more nervous. "Any point in time now."

Arms folded, the Doctor looked down his nose at the humans, rocking on his heels.

Apparently they got some sort of leverage because the Jaffa began pealing the doors opened. Jack and Daniel both raised their weapons, assuming defensive positions. The Doctor remained where he was, arms crossed, entirely unprotected, a snide smile pulling back on his lips.

The metal doors lurched opened a bit more just as Jack's radio snapped like a crinkling candy wrapper. "Bit…" Carter's voice was drowned out by heavy arms fire. "Busy right now, sir—we found--" Another crackle, then nothing…just as the lab doors jarred the rest of the way opened.

TBC…


	3. Chapter 3

Standard disclaimers. You know the drill. Thanks to Krypto, for actually betaing it this time with only a minimal amount of grousing. Oh, honey, you used to love me for this. Remember when my mind was sexy? Yeah. Me neither.

XYZ

Hok'taur

Chapter 3

XYZ

The primed and crackling staff weapons came jutting through the doorway first, looking like snakes about to strike. Before the Jaffa could step through or either member of the SG-1 team could open fire, the Doctor held up his hands, gesturing for Jack and Daniel to NOT shoot.

He stepped between the Jaffa and the humans, folding his arms in front of him once again. "You won't shoot me," he said with confidence. "Nirrti wants me alive."

In typical bleeding heart fashion, Daniel began lowering his weapon, but Jack didn't move so much as an inch. They might not kill this guy, but Jaffa traditionally weren't fond of SG units. When SG-7 reported the possible presence of Nirrti on the planet and brought back tissue samples from the population, confirming genetic tampering, SG-1 had been assigned to check it out. Nirrti and her Jaffa HAD to have been alerted to the comings and goings of the 'Tauri' by now.

The Doctor took another step towards the Jaffa, their weapons a mere foot from his face. With the back of one hand, he pushed the business end of the staff away from his face. "You have orders not to harm me. And I'm guessing that right about now, Nirrti is figuring out just how damned near impossible it is to extract useable DNA from my blood, and so she'll be coming back for the vivisection. So you can't shoot me. And if you shoot the dumb Americans, I can guarantee, you won't leave this room. They're with me, now."

He said it so matter-of-factly that Jack knew beyond the shadow of a doubt, it was true. The man had no discernible weapons, unless you counted the jazzed up pen light. He had no equipment, protective or otherwise (unless you were counting the jacket), but Jack knew that if the Jaffa so much as stepped out of line right now, they wouldn't leave the room.

Jack could tell the Doctor had called their bluff. "Now be good little soldiers and toddle off to your mistress. Tell her the Doctor demands an audience. And if she hurts the other two…" he looked to Jack. "Teal'c and Carter?" Jack nodded. "She'll answer to me." A thin, vindictive smile tugged at his lips. "And if she remembers the last time I came down off of my high and mighty pedestal, she'll think twice about testing me again."

Daniel and Jack slowly turned to each other, not sure what to make of the guy. He certainly had the whole enemy-of-my-enemy thing going on, which made things a little easier. He'd also apparently forgotten just how annoying he found them to be at the moment and was paying back the whole escape favor. But just who—and what—was he?

Hands clasped in front of him, the Doctor stared down his long, defined nose at the Jaffa warriors, waiting. "Run along. We'll find our own way to Nirrti."

One of the guards turned to the other three and they spoke amongst themselves. Two headed back the direction they'd come, the other two standing guard. "We will take you to our mistress."

"Fine." The Doctor took a few steps forward and then turned back to Jack. His head cocked to the right just the tiniest bit and Jack glowered.

Gesturing for Daniel to follow the Doctor, Jack followed. One Jaffa lead, another held up to bring up the rear. As Jack passed the warrior, he and the Doctor moved in unison. Jack's elbow slammed into the unprotected area just beneath the ear of the warrior, slamming his head against the metal edge of the mostly-open sliding blast door. The Doctor had pulled the other guard backward, dealing a similar unconsciousness-inducing blow.

It almost looked choreographed. Daniel whistled, impressed. "Nice."

The Doctor didn't so much as acknowledge the complement. He simply looked at the open door at the end of the hall and began dragging the unconscious Jaffa toward it. "Please tell me that the lock on this thing is still functional," he asked Jack.

Jack and Daniel each had grabbed a leg and were dragging their own catch of the day. "Hey, what do I look like?" Jack huffed, cheek twitching with a slightly self-depreciating smirk. "A stupid ape?"

It was then that they saw the first real smile spread across the alien man's face. "Alright, you're less stupid of an ape than you look like. How's that?"

Daniel thought about that as he and Jack crossed the threshold of the other lab. He was forced to smile at the alien's attitude. He didn't think they'd ever met such a...dichotomous creature. "I think he's thanking you for your help, Jack."

Thoughtlessly depositing his cargo on the floor of the lab, the Doctor looked around, presumably for something to secure the men with. Jack began digging through a pocket for wire ties.

The Doctor's gaze only made it half way around the room and he stopped, pausing for a moment at the two devices Daniel had been so interested in earlier—the ones with the sleek curving design like the Doctor's tool. "Oh, where the hell did she get these?"

Helping Jack secure the Jaffa guard, Daniel took a moment to respond. "Don't know. She's running some kind of genetic analysis. I'm not sure of much more, half's in Goa'uld and the other half's in some language I've never encountered."

The Doctor began flipping through the display screens so fast Daniel wasn't sure how he could read them. "And you never will again." There was something stressed and impassioned in those five little words. "It's a dead language, belonging to a dead people." Backing up in the displays, the Doctor began pressing buttons, clearing screens. "Did they fall from the void?" he muttered to himself. "She couldn't have had them since before the--"

He spun around, shaking a hand at Jack, as if he should be handed something, and that Jack should know without being asked exactly what that something was. "Explosives. Anything. I need to destroy the data and the machines."

Daniel took a step forward, holding up a hand. "Are you sure you want to do that? I mean—we could learn so much--"

There was a hard look in the Doctor's eyes, a look that did not suffer impudence well. And Daniel, at that moment, was being impudent. "No, you won't. No good will come from human access to this technology."

Where had Jack ever heard THAT before? "EVERYBODY says that. I bet you people'd probably try to keep a Zippo away from cavemen too, because you're afraid they'd burn down the whole forest." Jack still handed him the explosives. He understood this guy and he knew that if he was saying it had to be destroyed, it was a field command type decision that he wouldn't waste time trying to debate. They still had to find the rest of the team, and spending time debating the merits of the underdeveloped 'puny' humans' access to technology supposedly beyond their comprehension wasn't helping Carter and Teal'c.

Opening the outer covers, it was pretty evident the Doctor meant to use the shell of the machines to contain the explosion—provided the metal exteriors were enough to take the blast, which the Doctor seemed to be confident in. "Matches, actually. I'm a much pettier man than you take me to be," the Doctor said, mostly to himself. "Mostly I did it to save my own hide."

Daniel held out a hand in some lame attempt at stopping him. "Well, what about the other language. You can't possibly--"

The Doctor glared at the young man, his blue eyes piercing like swords. "I can. And I will, Rambo. This machine will process all of the information she needs to generate entire genome sequences a thousand times more complex than a human's. As for the language—it's better lost. Your tiny mind wouldn't know what to do with it, anyway." He tore out a few wires, probably attempting to make a delay mechanism.

Jack nodded to Daniel, letting him know to drop it. "Why don't you get a head start on finding Teal'c and Carter. See if you can get them on the radio. This'll go faster with another set of hands."

Digging a hand inside the other case, Jack glanced over at the Doctor to see which wires the other man had pulled. "They all look the same."

The Doctor held up two slightly bluer cables. "Crystal optics. More flexible than hard crystal controls and easier to change out broken controllers." There was a lack of condescension in his voice, suddenly, like he enjoyed teaching, deep down. Maybe not so much in explaining things, but the actual art of instruction seemed to be his deal.

Finding the two bluer cables, Jack began stripping with his army knife. "So how long have you been out?"

Turning to him, the Doctor's eyes met his. There was something vacant there. Jack couldn't tell if it was a lack of understanding as to what he was referring, or if he wasn't ready to talk about it. Jack shrugged innocently. "Nobody keeps their hair that short as a fashion statement. I don't care HOW alien you are."

The other man looked away and shrugged, offended. "It's not as if it's…regulation or anything."

"I'm betting it's not." Jack handed over the stripped cables. "However, it's a bit… utilitarian." That special sort of function over form usually applied directly to hairy situations—like combat.

"Big words from an ape who wants everyone to think he's a Cro-Mag."

Smiling, Jack chose not to take it personally. "I went that rout once. I'm completely over 'caveman.' I'm literate now and everything. Seriously."

The Doctor closed the first case, sealing or locking it with his strange little tool. "Lets just put it this way—my commission is recently ended." There was something very bitter and ironic in the way he said it. Jack knew that there was some very dark subtext the alien was not ready to share. Messing with some more wires, the Doctor set everything up then performed the same operation on the other hatch.

Jack knew he'd hit it right on the money. With renewed sympathy, he nodded. It had been extremely recent service. "It takes a while to get settled back in to the day-to-day. The whole 'reintegration into society' thing."

Standing, the Doctor contemplated his handiwork and checked the location of the guards; to be sure they wouldn't be killed in the blast, which Jack thought was very interesting. "Except when this is the day-to-day." He quietly headed out the door and to the main hallways with no concern for whether the rest of his mater-of-fact statement could be heard. "And there's no society to reintegrate back into."

The dead language. Jack was perfectly capable of taking a hint. He also wouldn't even bother trying to empathize, there's no way his own combat experiences could relate to that one.

XYZ

Firing behind her as she ran, Carter stopped at the next force field blocking the hallway. She worked as quickly as possible to disengage it while Teal'c attempted to give her some amount of cover fire. The Jaffa turned the corner just as she managed to shut it down. "Got it!" she hollered.

They both dove through, and she replaced the appropriate crystal, reenabling the field. The fields were set up like fire doors every fifty yards or so on the entire level. The Colonel and Daniel might have headed for the labs, but whatever Nirrti was doing on this level was far more volatile than genetic experimentation.

Personal phase shifting cloaking devices, genetic engineering, plus whatever else was going on here... Nirrti was obviously of a good scientific mind. It was too bad she was genetically incapable (due to being Goa'uld) of using that mind for some sort of benefit the universe—instead of just benefit to herself. Sam had no idea what she'd do with a veritable eternity to dedicate to scientific pursuits.

The two SG members had a distinct disadvantage. As they turned another corner and hit another field (lather, rinse, repeat), it became apparent that they needed to change tactics quickly, despite the six Jaffa on their tails—the Jaffa had the advantage of having the code for the doors and were passing through the fields faster than she and Teal'c were.

Whatever trouble her CO had gotten into, he and Daniel were on their own at the moment. Reengaging the next force field, she spared a glance at Teal'c. "Change in plans."

In other circumstances, Teal's own unique brand of humor would have sprung up, and he'd have drolly pointed out that he'd been unaware of there having been a plan. Times being what they were, he simply grunted as they made their way to the next field. "We have to get into one of these rooms. I'm hoping for storage—something marginally defendable."

They were lost in a maze of corridors without much chance of finding a way to another level or shaking their tail, so powering their way through seemed like a better use of both time and energy.

Making their way to yet another field, both searched their brains for the plan of the ship, hoping to recall exactly which door they needed. Running wouldn't work much longer—they were only about fifty feet off now, but wasting time disabling the lock on a door to a room that wouldn't be of use to them.

"I will hold them here," Teal'c announced tersely as they came to the end of a corridor that ended in a T. It wasn't the best position, but it did have some cover. "Two barriers ahead, tall double blast doors."

With the briefest nod of agreement, she took off. Colonial O'Neill seemed to like Teal's brevity, and at times like these—Sam could appreciate it. Words were seconds, and seconds were about all they were running on.

XYZ

The second his radio started crackling, Daniel stopped his search of the ship's computer for the non-Jaffa life signs. He grabbed it, hoping someone was out there. "Sam? Teal'c?"

The response was a bit broken up—whatever had cut off communications before was still doing a number on the signal. "...some kind of converted storage hanger...thirty-seventh level...no rings that we've been able to find..."

Daniel changed search tactics. "Ok. I have you." At least he thought he did—he'd found the plans for the ship, and the largest room on that level. "There HAS to be a way down there." But she was right, there appeared to be no rings within the immediate vicinity.

XYZ

Jack and the Doctor hadn't encountered too many other Jaffa as they rushed through the ship, and since they were alone or in pairs, it had been fairly easy (if slow going) to overpower them. He'd complemented the alien on the 'drive everybody out, then lock the doors' thing. He'd have to remember it—if only he could figure out how to disable the doors like that.

As they ran, the Doctor reached into his coat, pulling out the silver device with the blue light on the tip. "Sonic screwdriver. Scrambles the molecular memory of energy crystals, unlocks doors..."

"...makes Julian fries..." Jack finished as his radio began hissing and spitting as they moved away from whatever had been causing the interference.

"Never did manage that," the Doctor offered wistfully. "Bit of everything else, though. It can handle toast and eggs in a pinch though."

Chuckling, Jack messed with the radio a bit. He could hear voices, but couldn't quite make out what they were saying. "Aww, for cryin' out loud." Those digital audio filters Sam had installed really weren't doing their job, now were they? Some days, he hated technology.

Stopping, the Doctor tore it out of his hand, ripping the battery out.

"Hey!" Now they'd never know what the hell was going on.

Messing with the 'sonic screwdriver' and one of the chips, the Doctor put everything back together. "Try that."

Flipping it back on, Jack got a perfect signal. Clear as the blue sky, even. Jack LOVED technology. "Something I've never seen before. No Goa'uld markings—some sort of circular-based text..."

The Doctor took back the radio, leaving Jack scratching his neck. The guy didn't stand on pleasantries, which was one thing. A little courtesy would have been nice, though. "What does it look like? The device, not the writing," the Doctor corrected himself quickly.

"Long, clear cabling, tons of it running in straight lines from some sort of white console over to sacks filled with some kind of clear liquid," Sam reported concisely.

A look of intense frustration wiped over the Doctor's features. "Are the wombs empty?"

"They appear to be."

The Doctor thrust the radio back at Jack, slamming it into his chest. "We need to get down there. We need to destroy that thing, and we need to get all of my genetic material back from Nirrti, even if it means destroying this whole damned planet." There was regret in his eyes but resolve in his voice. He wasn't a man to make idle threats.

They took off running again, Jack lagging just a little behind. "Come on, how bad can it be?"

Looking back at him, the Doctor shook his head. "We just got rid of the recombinant DNA generators, which are bad enough. But she's got the means to grow her genetically engineered super-hosts, and the DNA sample to give her a host more dangerous than the Ancients."

Jack blinked a few times in mild disbelief—or maybe it was shock. He was never good at telling the difference between the two. "Huh?"

The Doctor stopped. "Well, the good news is—I haven't thought about Rose Tyler in…thirty minutes. The bad news is… if the generators were done processing my genetic material, Nirrti has enough data to create a host capable of moving through all five dimensions independently. And for the audience at home: this means the destruction of everything in the universe as you know it to be, another Time War and if the Goa'uld are as selfish and stupid as I think they are—probably a reality-ending paradox just as soon as they figure out how to do it. That sound like a good enough reason to destroy this planet—this solar system, if we have to?"

Shaking his head, Jack moved past the Doctor, continuing down the corridor. Sam would have understood the subtleties of that whole spiel a lot better than he had, but one thing Jack knew for certain was that this fellow was dead-on serious. "Well, then lets get on with it."

TBC…


	4. Chapter 4

Standard disclaimers apply. Thanks to Chef Erica for the beta. Hopefully this chapter looks a little better off than the last!

XYZ

Hok'taur

Chapter 4

XYZ

Sam's eyebrows arched as the radio went silent. The British voice had broken in with some rather immediate sounding questions—she didn't bother to ask why he was on O'Neill's radio, she'd just answered, being fairly certain there was a good reason.

Hearing Jaffa approaching, she and Teal'c took positions behind the biggest, heaviest metal cargo crates they could find. If they could funnel all of the Jaffa into the space, they could come around them, cut off an escape and take them out that way. Being proactive was so much easier than trying to defend an indefensible position.

Just as the cargo bay doors opened, before she could even train her weapon on the enemy, she heard a series of quick Zat rounds. The Jaffa fell forward, into the cargo bay, revealing Daniel. "Anybody here order two pepperoni pizzas and a large order of backup?"

Teal'c just frowned, but Sam had to grin. "Yeah, but I forgot to tell ya we had a coupon when I called. How'd you get down here?"

Daniel's face contorted. "You don't want to know." But he knew he was going to have to tell her. "Garbage chute. I'd be happy never doing that again. Short version of the catch-up story: found some genetic sequencing equipment, found the Doctor—not too bad of a guy once you get past the xenophobia and a lack of tolerance for mistakes… blew up the genetic sequencing equipment, came to find you guys. Jack and the Doctor shouldn't be too far off our location by now."

Out of immediate danger, Sam went back to the enormous device taking up the entire end of the chamber. "We managed to get to this level from a trap door on the floor above which promptly decided to disappear once we were through. I am not entirely sure Nirrti even knows what she's doing to these people. I think she's just experimenting with new technology." She pointed to the long white cables and tubes running from the main unit to the enormous fluid sacks. "It looks like some kind of crystal optical cable. I think I'm going to try for a sample of that--"

"Don't even think about it!" a voice called out from the corridor. She heard two sets of boots clomping towards them. Turning, she saw Jack and the Doctor enter the space, carefully stepping over the unconscious Jaffa. "We're blowin' it up, and we're doing it right now."

She looked to O'Neill for an explanation. Her CO nodded. "Yeah. Apparently if we don't get all of the Doctor's toys back, the universe will end, and we'll have to blow up the solar system. Do I have that right?" he asked, turning to the tall man with the long, care-worn face.

The Doctor rolled his eyes, holding a hand out for more explosives. "Nirrti has enough raw genetic material to build a host more powerful than her garden-variety super-humans. Command over the fourth and fifth dimensions, that sort of thing. Usually you need an advanced degree before you're allowed to muck with space and time. I'm betting if you give her that kind of power, she'll stir up a paradox in two minutes flat, and then the universe goes kablewy. If it comes to blowing up the solar system and you lot with it, I'm doing it. So helping me's in your best interests right now."

Taking the charges from Jack, he began opening access panels and pulling wires.

Sam turned to her CO. "Doesn't mess around, does he?"

The Doctor looked back at her. "I didn't do the things that I've done to keep reality in one piece just to have it destroyed by an incompetent BITCHY snake with too much time and too many toys that don't belong to her."

Before Sam could challenge him, Jack put a hand on her shoulder, causing her to turn around and glare at him. He shook his head. "Let him go. Now's not the time."

The Doctor gestured with a finger for Daniel to come over. "You, Rambo, hold this." He held up internal cabling in a variety of pale shades. "Blondie, detach the sacks. Don't slash 'em, and make sure you disconnect them from the regulators. They're the silver--"

"Cylindrical units attached to what I assume to be a manual dampener?" Already on her way to the other end of the bay, Sam nodded, entirely not amused.

Inconspicuously, Jack began wandering towards Sam.

With a maniacal grin, the Doctor shook his head, both hands still yanking on cables and other unidentifiable parts. "Another clever ape. No wonder you want to dissect this old thing. You might actually figure it out, in a hundred years or so." Yanking the already sliced cables out of Daniel's hands, "Clever little apes, the whole lot of you. Traveling together though the gates. Well, except for him." The Doctor gestured with his chin at Teal'c. "Where'd they pick you up, then?"

Attention still focused on the door, to be sure no more Jaffa were coming, Teal'c inclined his head. "There are many Jaffa who no longer worship the false gods. I seek to aid the Tauri in their battle against the Goa'uld."

Kicking the access panel shut, the Doctor rose, handing Daniel some forgotten bit of apparently unnecessary bit of cabling. "Good for you, mate. Give 'em hell."

It was said with an almost mocking bravado, to which Teal'c did not bother responding.

Jack leaned over Carter's shoulder. "Need a little help?" he asked quietly.

She pulled out a wrench that may or may not do the job, contemplating how to get herself high enough to begin detaching the appropriate cables. "Your friend's quite a charmer, sir. I'm guessing he's wanted strictly for his sunshine personality—not anything he's actually done."

Jack dragged a crate over for her to use as a stepping stool. "Just let him go. He's just a little… rough around the edges. Probably a heaping load of PTSD too—case study to end all case studies type stuff."

Carter didn't look the least bit impressed. Climbing up onto the box, she disconnected four of the five cables. Her hand hovered over the last one as she replied quietly, "well, the end of the universe is the end of the universe. But I'm dying to know…what IS he? This technology is so different from anything we've seen from the Asgard or the Ancients…"

"Snuggle time's over," a deep voice announced loudly from behind them. "Get that last one, and lets get a move on. This thing pulls energy out of the Vortex, the particle storm is going to be vicious. We can't even be in the same postcode when it goes."

Disconnecting the last one, Carter hopped down, about to ask exactly WHAT Vortex that happened to be, when there was a familiar rushing surround and a flash of light. Well, they found the rings, it appeared.

The light shrank and the rings fell away. The three were in a large chamber with gilded coffered ceilings, a polished quartz floor and an enormous golden throne. Behind it lay a large glass window, the stark contrast of stars and space lay beyond. In said throne sat Nirrti, shrouded in dark purple robes, her face hidden, looking quite pleased with herself. "It has been…an interesting day."

Before the Doctor could say anything, Jack stepped in front of him, ignoring Nirrti's royal guard and the weapons pointed at him. "Yeah, you're telling me. First I found this really great Christmas tree, then I found the craziest looking sarcophagus in some bushes…"

Nirrti raised her hand, the center of her hand device glowing deep blood red was O'Neill as thrown away from her. He landed about ten feet behind the others, sliding another yard on the polished floor. "Your team will be dealt with in due time. My interest is in you… Doctor."

Keeping an eye on the ten angry Jaffa, Carter helped Jack to his feet.

Stepping away from the rings, the Doctor grinned. "Good to see you, your Evil Snakiness. Just passin' through. I'll just be gathering my stuff, and I'll be on my way."

The Goa'uld's painted eyes narrowed. "You and your interference have plagued me for so long. It is fitting that you should be the key to my final success."

The smile never left the Doctor's lips. It didn't seem like they had much in the way of bargaining chips, but he seemed to be confident—despite being surrounded by a room full of angry warriors. "But only if I help you."

"Good one," Jack whispered. He liked having leverage.

Nirrti rose from her throne, descending two of the steps, pausing. "The lonely god. How terrible it must be for you. Always traveling—always alone. I wonder; do you run towards, or from something?" The smile was evident in her voice, even if her face remained hidden. "I could help you, you know. Just this once."

The Doctor's face was suddenly stony. "I am not a god. And unlike some people, I've never pretended to be. So I let you resurrect my species, then what? What do you get? You get a host with power over time and space? The Goa'uld get an army of hosts? It'd be all of five seconds before another time war erupts. My people won't stand for yours having that kind of power. I won't stand for it."

Hands folded in front of her, Nirrti maintained her composure, though it was evident to both Jack and Sam that this was about to turn ugly. It was a battle among gods, and they were about to be caught in the middle.

Taking another slow step down, Nirrti paused, considering her words. "And yet, your people have had such power for millennia. You withheld it from the other first races and horded that power for yourselves. How does this make you better than the Goa'uld?"

Taking another step towards her, the Doctor quietly slid his hand into his jacket pocket. "Because it's OURS. Let me use very tiny words." He pointed to himself with his free hand. "Lord of Time." He then gestured to her, looking around at the space. O'Neill caught him pulling his hand out of his pocket, and got ready. Something was about to happen, and he wasn't going to be caught off guard. "Parasite on the universe. The only thing the Goa'uld have ever created for themselves were your little fiefdoms spread through this little corner of space. You call yourself gods, but there's so much that's so much bigger than you. And it's coming for you. I'm coming for you. These adorable little apes are coming for you. So no. I won't help you. I will, however, take my blood back. Every last peptide and protein, please."

Nirrti and the Doctor raised their hands at the same time, She, ostensibly to use the hand device, he let rip with that little 'sonic screwdriver' of his. There was an audible buzz, then a silence more forceful than any explosion. If that thing was capable of disabling Goa'uld technology, Jack desperately wanted one.

A couple of Jaffa twitched, and Carter actually fired before O'Neill. See, he wasn't trigger-happy. They both looked around anxiously for cover as the space lit up like a fireworks display on the forth of July. It was so bright and loud with gunfire and pinkish orange staff weapon fire that Jack almost didn't notice the series of hot white flashes.

When his head hit the floor, his brain seemed to back up, replaying the last several seconds in his head. He COMPLETELY hadn't seen THAT one coming. He should have. But he hadn't.

XYZ

Jack woke to spots in his ears and ringing in his eyes. Ok, so that wasn't exactly how the cliché went, but that's exactly how it felt. His senses were scrambled, and they were having trouble grasping on to anything real; he was trapped in an endless tumbling motion as vertigo kept its hold upon him.

A deep, calm voice broke through the tumble through the dryer that his senses were doing. "Take deep breaths. Focus on the breathing. It'll help."

Focusing on the in and out for a moment, Jack slowly felt his body reorienting itself. His head was attached to the rest of him, which happened to be vertical, and his arms were stretched painfully over his head. At this point—pain and strain were good. It meant that he had some point of reference.

Opening his eyes, he slowly looked up at the manacles around his wrists, then the dim light of his surroundings. "Nice accommodations." Dungeon. Sure it was more of a brig, but it was dark and just a bit damp, so really—dungeon was the only thing he could think of. Carter was in similar straights, about ten feet away from him.

And completing the trifecta of captured-ness, the Doctor, wearing a grim smile on his face. "Sorry about that. Disabled the hand device and missed the neural scrambler. I have no idea where she got the toys from, but she got the mother load."

Carter's long, dark lashes batted against her cheeks as she attempted to focus her eyes. Jack looked away.

"What is it with you blondes and the mascara?"

Still not entirely back together, Sam tried to glare at the Doctor, but her arms were in the way. Spinning herself around just a bit, she managed it. "I'm not wearing any makeup."

Jack smirked. "Yeah, she looks that put together after getting the crap kicked out of her all the time!" It was too easy to irritate her sometimes. "Seriously, though. We should worry a little bit less about Carter's skincare habits and a little bit more about getting outta here." Thinking it over, Jack frowned. "And what're we doing here anyway?" They should have been dead by now. He'd have killed them, if he were Nirrti. Ouch. That made the head hurt.

The Doctor looked up at his own hands. "I don't pretend to understand her overly simplistic mind, but if I were her—and thank the universe I'm not—but if we don't get out of here, I just may be—I'd torture you two until I agreed to cooperate in breaking down the Time Lord genetic code." He turned to Carter suddenly, still bothered. "If you worked in a shop, and just suppose that that shop was blown up, and someone said to you 'come with me, we'll go see the universe,' would you go with him—granted he's a complete and total stranger who blew up your job and almost got you killed—or would you report to the unemployment office the next morning?"

If the crease in Carter's brow was any indication, Jack thought that she'd lay into the esteemed Lord of Time, if her hands weren't bound in several inches of metal and chains. "And I'd know the answer to this…why? Because I'm blond?"

Wincing, the Doctor tried to backpedal. "Because you're obviously intelligent for a human, and I'll work under the assumption that you were once a nineteen year old girl, unless the United States Air Force now hatches it's ninja-secret ops-scientists fully grown, and I think it'd give me just a small bit of perspective as to why I'm here."

Jack made a circular motion with his fingers, imitating a philosophy teacher from college. "Why are ANY of us here?" he asked whistfully.

Ignoring the Colonel, the Doctor sighed. "Right. Forget her. Getting out of here." He twisted his hands around in the chains. They were far too tight this time for him to try his little trick again. That and his thumb still smarted. "Her boyfriend was clutching onto her knees like a scared five year old. I guess we can tell who wears the pants in THAT relationship…"

Carter gave up on any further attempts at thinking things through with the Doctor and turned to her CO. "Odds of Daniel and Teal'c finding us?" Considering THEY were the ones about to be tortured and all.

The Doctor's head rolled sarcastically. "Come with me, see the universe. 'Oh no, I'm sorry, I have to take care of my stupid idiot boyfriend. You go on without me, I'll be alright. Nothing to see here, move right along…'"

Jack shrugged. "If they can find us, can they get up here?" They did happen to be in a ship in orbit around the planet, and the rings seemed to be activated only from the mother ship they now found themselves 'guests' upon.

"I wouldn't have been all that heartbroken, had he been killed by the Autons. It would have served him right…"

Scowling, Carter's head snapped toward the Doctor. "Did you ever think of asking her again?" she fired at him. She really needed some quiet to work on the whole 'escaping before we're tortured' problem. The alien's devolving ADD tangent was NOT helping.

The Doctor looked at her like her head had done a 360 and she was spitting nails. "What?"

Carter sighed. "Go off with the unknown variable, stay at home with the sure thing. I'd want to know that the unknown variable thought that _I_ was the sure thing. That I'm worth coming back for."

He blinked at her like she was speaking gibberish. "But she said no--" Blinking, he looked away. "Alright, here's the plan: we get the Jaffa in here--"

Seemingly on queue, the small cell opened. Six Jaffa filed in, Nirrti in their wake. "I think we're all acquainted." Pulling the veil back from her face, she held out a stick that looked rather unfortunately like a cattle prod.

The electrical charge crackling at the tip also helped with that imagery. "And now, Doctor, we see if your duty to the universe outweighs your love for all creatures great and small."

The Doctor shook his head, icy blue eyes narrowed. "I won't play your game, Nirrti. If you harm them, I won't help you."

A taut smile pulled back on her darkly shaded lips. Stopping in front of Major Carter, she looked the Doctor in the eye, raising the crackling stick. "No harm will come to her, if you cooperate. If you deny me, she will die." She grinned like someone looking at a full house. "And before you point out that I will have nothing to bargain with if I kill your friends, remember that not far from here is an entire village full of little potential hostages."

Sam could feel the warmth of the electricity as the stick was moved to a position about an inch from her nose. Nirrti looked at her as though she were no more than a lab animal. "And your decision, Doctor?" Not one to let a proposition linger, was she?"

Her focus shifted from the tip of the device to the Doctor. He looked away, and she knew what he was going to say before he said it. "Kill her then. Kill them all."

TBC


	5. Chapter 5 & Epilogue

Standard disclaimers apply. Thanks to Krypto for the beta. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed, too. You guys are swell! So, on with the final part. Bit long, but I didn't want to break off the Epilogue into a separate chapter. Oh well, either you'll deal with it, or you won't ; )

XYZ

Houk'tar

Chapter 5

XYZ

"Kill them all."

Nirrti froze, possibly in disbelief. Jack didn't know if this was a brilliant strategy, or if the Doctor actually was following through with his promise to destroy anything that stood in the way of him neutralizing the Goa'uld's ability to control the genetics of some kind of super-creature. "You will sacrifice them all. War does change one."

Eyes narrowed, the Doctor leaned forward, the bonds yanking his arms above and behind him. "And you Goa'uld are supposed to be so clever. So clever the little humans worship you. I help you. You let them live. For now. Just until you have what you want, and then you won't be able to control it."

His words thus far had been calm and controlled. As he held Nirrti's attention, his words gained energy, like a snowball down a hill on a wet winter day. "That much power will far too tempting for you lot, and the next thing I know, everything's all shot to hell again, and they all die anyway. Because you won't bring the Time Lords back, will you? There isn't a single part of you capable of being honest. I'll be dead about three seconds after you have your genetic map. And I mean dead-dead, no regeneration. I go one way and my head goes another. Duplicitous bitch. Sure, I'll help you. Great. Fantastic."

Nirrti's eyebrows rose, though the rest of her face remained placid. She decided to call his bluff. "We will continue this discussion once her smoking corpse has cooled. Perhaps you'll reevaluate your position."

The stick had been lowering slightly throughout the Doctor's rambling speech, but it quickly regained its former place, just under Carter's nose. She tried to jerk her head back, but it was already retracted as far as it would go.

Jack yanked violently and loudly against his bonds, willing to rip all the skin off of his hands if it meant he could do something about this. He did NOT like being insignificant chess pieces in a game played between higher powers. A Jaffa staff clipped him in the middle of the back, and he ceased his struggling—for the moment.

Ignoring the whole display, the Doctor just grinned wickedly, like he knew something Nirrti didn't. "That's it. Go on. Kill all of your little bargaining chips."

The space-time thing was Carter's territory, really. But if what the Doctor was saying was true, he was far closer to being a god than the Goa'uld. It was also far more power than someone like Nirrti needed.

That being said, he wasn't taking this lying down. "Hey! Both of you! We're right here."

Carter's eyes, which had been focused on the tip of the torture device shot to him instantly. He could tell she wasn't sure that this was the greatest idea, but he also knew she trusted him enough to let him interrupt.

"Seriously," he continued. "You'd think WE would get some say in this whole thing. Clash of the titans, and all that—I know it's your deal. But guys—GUYS, can't we all just get along?" Bobbing his head back and forth, thinking over the matter, Jack continued. "Of course… Nirrti… I can call you that, right? Well, you DID try to turn a little girl into a bomb to kill everyone on my base… a little girl I just so happen to be very fond of. So, y'know. If you happen to end up DEAD… I wouldn't cry."

A millisecond later, HE was staring at the wrong end of the pain stick. "I CAN start with you."

Carter's head dropped to her chest, relieved for the moment's reprieve, but still not sure about the continued well-being of her teammate. The Doctor watched her for a moment, then tsked at their captor. "You're just not getting it again. Kill him first, kill the cute one first, we all end up dead eventually. It's just all about how many people I take down with me. So, I'm only going to say this once: let us go. Now. Only warning."

Great, Jack thought, that'll work. There's bluffing, then there's just making crap up. But a second later, a thin, cruel smile spread across Nirrti's lips and she slowly turned around to face the Doctor. Her robes dragged in her wake. She stopped in front of him, close enough to whisper something in his ear before pressing the stick to his stomach, an audible charge running through him and off into the air, the floor—anywhere it would go.

That charge would have killed either of them. The Doctor cried out, but somehow was able to discharge the energy before it killed him. Nirrti paused, allowing him to contemplate just how much he didn't want to experience that sort of pain again.

Usually torture and retrieval of information was the job of a Jaffa highly skilled in… information extraction. That Nirrti was doing this herself told Jack two things: first, this information was too important to charge a mere Jaffa with its keeping. And there was quite a bit of bad blood (and not just the magical alien blood that this whole affair revolved around) between them.

This was about revenge, and Nirrti would take pleasure in letting this go on and on. "You don't have any companions to rescue you this time," she pointed out. Waiting until his muscles had stopped spasming, she hit him again, longer this time, taking great pleasure in the low groan of pain he released. The energy crackled off of him, up the chain, going into the ceiling, smudging it with black, a coppery pink showing around the edges.

Jack yelled for Nirrti to stop, but she didn't even acknowledge his existence. There was something else that bothered the hell out of him about this whole experience—if there's something you want out of someone, there're ways to get it. Slowly, meticulously, sometimes painfully, often maddeningly.

Revenge thing aside, if this information was as important to her as they knew it was, why wasn't she maximizing her chances of success by taking the longer path?

It seemed like forever, but she finally pulled the stick away from the Doctor. Jack decided to try to get a word in. "Excuse me, your royal evilness," he addressed her flippantly, but with the tone of someone begging an audience. She looked over her shoulder at him, as if to say he would be next. "I was just wonderin,' if you don't mind. Why you're torturing him hard and fast, instead of long and slow? I mean, I'm happy for the whole 'us being alive' thing, but I know a thing or two about torture, and I think you'll find my suggestions to be really helpful--"

Holding the instrument out for him to see, she eyed Jack dangerously.

Looking around at the on-alert Jaffa, Sam spoke up. "…No…" She got that little concentration crease in her forehead that Jack liked to see in times of crisis (not so much during meetings and friendly conversations). "That's a good question, sir."

"Really?" He was fairly decent at wagging his tongue. This Doctor fellow could give lessons to a Chatty Kathy doll, though. But it irked him that their yapping was about the only thing keeping them alive. Jack liked the more direct approach. Usually bullets, running and explosions were involved.

Sam nodded, which garnered Nirrti turning around fully to make them the next victims of her 'information gathering' session. "I'm guessing she's a little pressed for time, sir. If the Asgard can put a lock on your genes to prevent tampering, then I'm sure another highly advanced race could put safeguards on their own. Not only is it giving Nirrti fits, but it probably is also putting an expiration date on the samples."

The Doctor heaved air in and out of his lungs, twitching slightly. Still not recovered, he gave Carter a pained smile. "Give the girl a prize." Turning his head slightly, he tried to look around his captor. "She's a keeper, mate."

Jack opened his mouth to respond, but it died right there. No matter what he said, he'd be doomed. Say she's not a keeper, say she was… it'd all end badly.

Drawing in a few slow deep breaths, the Doctor closed his eyes. "I'd imagine the timer in my genetic code is giving a giant 'ding' right around now. Alright, Nirrti, I lied. THIS is your last chance. Call me a sentimental fool." Every strained muscle in his face suddenly relaxed as the breath flowed out of him.

"No, this is yours." Just as the Goa'uld was turning to correct any illusions her prize captive had about their current roles, she froze. One hand crept to the back of her neck. Her ornately carved torture wand clattered to the floor, pinging three times as she clutched her stomach. This was followed by the deep, echoing thud of the Jaffa guard simultaneously dropping their staff weapons, clawing at themselves in a nearly identical fashion to their mistress.

Jack and Sam simply looked around them and watched as knees slowly started to buckle under some kind of unknown strain. They didn't look to be in physical pain, but something was harming them.

As Nirrti's knees hit the floor Jack looked at the Doctor. Still that same placid look, eyes closed and not moving so much as to draw in breath. Yeah. Completely not a guy you wanted to piss off. And if a Goa'uld was putting HIM in 'god' class, then Jack AND the Air Force would do their damnedest to stay on his good side.

He was so caught up in the display, that he didn't notice they had more company until Sam called out. "Daniel!" Managing to drag his attention from the Doctor, he saw Daniel stepping over the writhing Jaffa, Teal'c behind him.

Daniel's eyes swept across the scene. "What's goin' on?" he asked cautiously, noting the look on the Doctor's face. "We found a control panel and figured out where the rings were being operated from—Teal'c found a communications array and 'persuade' some hapless Jaffa to ring us up here. Soon as we were here…all the Jaffa… well, just like this. At first we thought it was some kind of poison, but Teal'c wasn't affected…"

The chain above the Doctor's head rattled just a bit. "Yes, that's all very nice, Rambo. And a tough job it was, too, to isolate the ONE symbiote that you don't want to give nightmares to. I'll explain it all for the slow children later. Can we leave now?" A manic grin was plastered across his face as he shook the chains just a bit more.

Pushing the glasses up on his nose, Daniel blinked, possibly contemplating walking right back out the door. Instead, he slid his hand into his back pocket, pulling out the sonic screwdriver. "Teal'c came across it. Figured it might come in handy." He began fingering the dials. "How's this thing work?"

The Doctor sighed. "No telling what setting that thing's on now that you fiddled with it like a Rubix Cube. The loud American approach should be just fine."

"Hey!" Jack protested.

At their feet, the Jaffa began to stir, whatever haze they'd been captured by slowly beginning to lift. That was all the incentive Daniel needed. "Ok, one Jack Special coming up." He gestured to Teal'c. "All yours."

Aiming his own staff weapon a safe distance above the Doctor's head, Teal'c fired. The chains dropped and the Doctor only barely managed to duck out of the way in time. Rubbing his wrists, he gave a tired sigh. "Thanks." Leaning over Nirrti, the Doctor grinned happily. "Nope. No companions. However, I happen to have friends who have friends, you deranged, cantankerous cow."

A moment later, Jack and Sam were also free. Jack grabbed wire ties from Daniel, preparing to secure Nirrti. "Unless you want her, she's ours. She's got quite a lot to answer for."

Before he could bend to pull the semi-conscious Goa'uld's arms behind her back, the Doctor grabbed his arm. "Don't. I've seen inside her mind. Before she came in here, she put in place a fail-safe. Apparently she didn't trust either one of us to be good little captives; if she crosses the threshold of this ship without disarming the thing, this ship blows. So does the one below, and the blast WILL take out the settlement."

Jack cursed, but he let it go. "How're we going to reverse what she's done to the population?"

The alien beside him grinned, slapping him on the arm. "It just so happens that I'm not just _a_ doctor, I am _the_ Doctor. We'll have it solved in two shakes of a lamb's tail. First we have to get that blood. The genetic self-destruct might have blown, but there're enough antibodies and other niceties that it'd really give a boost that we don't need to her Hok'taur program." Bending down, he flicked her head. "But you're going to be a good evil witch, now aren't you? You're going to leave this planet in peace, and never return. Because if you do…" His smile grew more menacing. "You'll see a lot more than what I showed you."

Not a psychic assault that Jack wanted to be on the receiving end of. He couldn't imagine the things that would give a man like the Doctor nightmares, much less what he'd inflict upon them.

Daniel asked how he planned to do that, but the Doctor just tapped the side of his head. "Bit of reconnaissance for fast facts in addition to a general assault.

They didn't bother standing around; they left the block as soon as they could, the Doctor sealing and locking it behind them. "Scrambled the security policies in the crystals. ONCE they can stand again it'll take 'em a fair amount of time to get free. By then, we should be on our way."

XYZ

It hadn't taken that long either; Sam and Daniel scoured the labs and copied or took any and all information that might aid in reversing what Nirrti had been up to. The Doctor found the appropriate vials and destroyed any equipment that it looked like it had touched, then joined Jack and Teal'c as they finished setting the detonator in the cargo bay on the docked ship on the planet.

Watching on from a safe distance, they set off the charges. It took a few seconds, but a red force of energy kind of looking like those cherry sugar flecks for decorating Christmas cookies blasted outward, and then drew in on itself.

O'Neill asked if that had killed the unconscious Jaffa inside, but was informed by the Doctor that their symbiots would protect them.

The reformed group walked through the woods at an even pace, another day at the salt mines ended. Sam went on about her theory regarding what Nirrti's latest round of genetic tampering and Jack started walking a little faster at the head of the pack, putting a bit of distance between himself and the techno-babble. He didn't want to even pick up some of that stuff just by standing near her and osmosis.

As they maneuvered down an annoyingly steep hill, the Doctor came up beside Jack. "I just wanted to say… thanks. Pretty impressive stuff, really—for a bunch of Yank apes. Glad there's someone to deal with this lot finally—they've had way too much roam over this part of the galaxy for far too long."

Jack couldn't but help smiling. "Hey, we try. Yeah, we're not so bad once you get to know us. That's true for you too, you know. And, if I might be so bold… look the kid up again, huh? Carter's right; can't hurt. Backup's a decent thing to have, too."

He looked around, making sure the rest of his team was still a decent distance behind. Carter had stopped her oration, and seemed to be looking at him, annoyed, like she did in meetings. "Something I can tell you from harsh personal experience…a guy only looks for trouble when there's nothing left. And there's one thing I know—out here… trouble'll come finding you. You don't need to go knocking on its door. So give the kid a chance. Even a whiny human with bad taste in boyfriends is SOMETHING, which is way better than nothing but trouble."

The Doctor didn't respond. He simply looked above him, at the leafy tops of the sparsely placed yet enormous trees. Slowly a smile spread across his lips, as if the thought wasn't so repugnant to him after all.

Leaving the alien to his thoughts for a moment, Jack cherished the moment. He'd just told the last lord of time and space to get a life, and he was still here to tell the tale. Which meant his next inquiry was entirely doable. "There's just one thing I'm dying to ask."

The smile slowly receded from the Doctor's lips.

There was something slightly amusing and slightly sad about the way he was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Carter was picking up her pace to join his little sub-group, possibly to ask if he'd been paying attention, more likely to talk to the Doctor about possible solutions to their problem with the locals. Whatever. He had bigger fish to fry at the moment. "What's the deal with the blue box?"

A laugh escaped the Doctor, a short burst that sounded unfamiliar, even to his own ears. The humans were amusing, sometimes. "It's my ship." Before the other man could make a smart comment about traveling through space in a cupboard, he added, "trust me, it's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside."

"Bigger on the inside?" Sam's brow furrowed in that 'thinking' way again. Jack was too fond of her scrunched forehead. He looked away.

The Doctor sighed. "TARDIS-Time And Relative Dimension In Space. Bigger on the inside than it is on the outside, you wouldn't under--"

Sam interrupted, "No, I get it. I was just thinking—that must require an ENORMOUS amount of energy to sustain. Beyond ZPM capabilities. How--" But she stopped when the Doctor shook his head sternly. "Alright, then." Her annoyance was evident.

Finally he relented and gave a small portion of an answer. "Trans-dimensional energy signatures, the ship absorbs them when it's in its idle state. And NO, I won't show you the converters." Letting her know he was done with the topic of discussion. "As I was saying, Jack of the Flying Bullets, bigger on the inside. The police box is a disguise."

Arm slung over his weapon, Jack averted his eyes and muttered, "Crappy disguise."

The Doctor made a face, exasperated. "In nineteen sixties London it wasn't. It was a brilliant disguise, if you ignore the fact she decided to park herself in the city dump. Stupid chameleon circuit got stuck. I spent around five hundred years or so muckin' with the thing, but now I just let it be, I'm tired of fighting with her. If she wants to be a fat blue box, then she can be a fat blue box."

Arriving at said blue box, the Doctor pulled away the remaining vines. "Blondie, you're with me. This shouldn't take more than… twenty minutes? Give or take." He looked to Jack. "Can you, Rambo and Lincoln Memorial gather up the kids? As far as I could tell, they were the only ones affected."

Teal'c ignored the nickname, Daniel shifted uncomfortably. Jack just shrugged and gestured for the rest of the team, sans Sam to follow him. "Carter, do me a favor—try not to have a nerdgasm in there."

Her round cheeks rose in a tiny, controlled smile. There was the obvious annoyance with her CO, but there was also the part of her that like a kid standing outside FAO Schwartz—she really wanted him to shut up so she could run in there and get her nerd-on.

It was yet another thing that forced Jack to look away from her and pretend like he was investigating the bushes. "Alright then. Twenty minutes, give or take for you guys? Give us… oh, however long it takes to herd cats."

Still grinning the Doctor turned his key in the lock of the ship.

Sam watched him mess with the lock for a moment. "Lincoln Memorial?"

Pushing the door open, the Doctor grinned innocently. "Your friend has the same stony stoic look about him. And he seems like he's about as much fun. Ever tried playing Trivial Pursuit with the Lincoln Memorial? You always win, but it's just not fun…" Gesturing for her to enter, he stepped aside. "May I present to you… home sweet home."

XYZ

Epilogue…

A thousand things ran through Rose Tyler's head when the Doctor's ship blinked in and then out that last time—everything seemed to slow, while her mind sped up, thinking a lifetime worth of thoughts in the moment it took her to blink.

She'd done the right thing, hadn't she? She couldn't just leave her mum, or Mickey. She had a life here, security she wouldn't have with him. He'd said it was always this dangerous. Her mum hadn't approved of some of her past friends, because she thought THEY were too dangerous. How would her mum feel about the Doctor? No—there wasn't even a question about that. Mum wouldn't like him.

She was better off where she was—the old familiar estate, old familiar boyfriend…

And no job. She'd have to start over again at as a register clerk and work her way to folding—which was slightly depressing. She could go back to school, get her A levels—make something of herself.

That thought brought her the most comfort. She'd been panicked when she thought about the old familiar estate and the old familiar boyfriend… but the Doctor had opened possibilities to her. She didn't know how she'd make things different for herself but it seemed like the potential suddenly existed, where as it had entirely eluded her before, and she'd simply fallen haplessly into the easiest and most direct path for a girl on a council estate with no positive male role model and no great love for school.

She could make this work, couldn't she? Same old life. She could make her old life work with this new sense of… purpose. No, it wasn't purpose. It was the desire for purpose. Could her current life exist with this new desire?

Oh lord, what had she done…

The silence left by the departing TARDIS was short-lived. The air became electrified with just a tiny bite of metal, and then something screeched again. Slowly the blue box faded in and out again.

Before she could think enough for the involuntary reflex of breathing to function, he was there, standing in the doorway, leaning against it with his arms crossed. "By the way, did I also mention it also travels in time?"

He'd come back for her. The Doctor thought she was worth coming back for—which meant the possibility existed that there was more for her, and here was someone who could guide her to that purpose, whatever it may be.

A moment later she was telling Mickey "thanks," and running towards the open door. another long train of thought unfolded itself in her mind. She should be checking on her mum, she should make sure Mickey was alright, she should…

Without so much as a hesitation or a second thought, she let him close the door behind her. She should start living her life. That's what life was for, after all.

THE END.


End file.
